


something about the new year

by narryblossom



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: First Kiss, Hiatus, M/M, Mutual Pining, New Year's Eve, New Year's Resolutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 14:36:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9127987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narryblossom/pseuds/narryblossom
Summary: “Have you gone home for the holidays?”“No,” he jumped. “No. Well, yes. I’ve come back since, though. I’m… I’m in London, too."“That’s good,” Niall paused, briefly weighing his next words on his tongue, “Suppose I could stop by sometime?”(It's New Year's Eve and they've only seen each other a handful of times throughout 2016, and really, that's about 360 days together too little.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> i started posting a fic/ficlet a month starting back in august; i plan on continuing throughout 2017. catch me at [narryblossom on tumblr](http://narryblossom.tumblr.com) if youre into it

“It’s New Year’s Eve, innit?”

Harry rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his knuckle as he sat up from the couch slowly. When he swung his feet over the edge of the couch, his foot landed on the bag of crisps he had been eating before his mid-day nap, which was now empty as the crisps had scattered all over his carpet. It’d be a pain to clean up later, he’d surely have to run next door and borrow his neighbor's hoover (again).

“Um,” he replied into the phone, “I think so.”

“It is,” Niall responded, “it is. I’m in London.”

“In… You’re in?” Harry moved his foot to the side and brushed the crumbs from his sole before standing and padding gently to the kitchen to get a drink--his throat had sufficiently dried up since realizing the voice on the other line.

“Yeah,” Niall sighed. “I came out after Christmas to visit some friends but now I can’t catch a flight back home ‘cause of the weather.”

“Oh,” Harry mumbled after gulping down a glass of water. “Um,” he hesitated again, unable to think of what to say next.

“Have you gone home for the holidays?”

“No,” he jumped. “No. Well, yes. I’ve come back since, though. I’m… I’m in London, too.”

“That’s good,” Niall paused, briefly weighing his next words on his tongue. “Suppose I could stop by sometime?”

“Yeah, ‘course. Absolutely. I’m going out with Nick and them tonight...could come with, if you want.”

“Alright, yeah. I’ll meet you there?”

“I’ll text you the address.”

“Good, okay. I’ll catch you tonight, then,” Niall said in place of a goodbye.

Harry waited for the end tone before slowly lowering his phone to the counter. He pawned off responsibility of tracking down the club’s address to his assistant (handler, really, but it hurt his feelings less to call her an assistant) almost immediately, and then trudged himself to his bedroom to find some trousers so he didn’t accidentally give anyone an eyeful whilst retrieving the aforementioned hoover.

Harry tried not to think about Niall for most of the day. Didn’t work for him, really.

Niall was most of Harry’s mind for the rest of the afternoon, regardless of how much he tried to do other things. Scrolling through the telly, Harry thought about last summer when Niall genuinely wrestled Harry for control of the remote. Trying to do his washing, he thought of when Niall drunkenly told him he sat on the washer-dryer  _ ‘cause it feels good, haven’t you done it? _ . Harry couldn’t write without thinking of Niall breathing down his neck to see what he was working on, and he couldn’t cook without thinking of how Niall would have laughed and narrated his movements like he were on a cooking show.

It wasn’t fair.

Harry was certain Niall must have been off having a great time with his mates. He hadn’t spoken to him since they were together in Louis’ dressing room after his mum passed, but before that it had been months. Visiting Harry was surely a second thought at the back of his mind. You should visit your bandmates/best mate when you’re in town and you should keep in touch with them when possible, surely Niall thought of that surely that’s why he called.

(That wasn’t why he called, Harry realized the next morning.)

When Harry’s driver rolled up to the outside of the club Grimmy had more-or-less reserved entirely for the night, the amount of flashing lights that greeted him was almost surprising. He hadn’t seen so many paparazzi in one area since his Another Man launch party, but it made sense that a building full of notable people would draw cameras.

Security opened Harry’s door and nearly dragged him out of the car and towards the door. He kept his head low and focused on taking his steps carefully so he didn’t appear drunk before the party even started. Just inside the club was a crowd of people whose names he didn’t know, and beyond them stood Niall almost as if he were expecting Harry to walk in right then.

“H!” he called, throwing his hands up. A bit of his pint spilled down his sleeve, but Niall didn’t spare it a glance or even a flinch as he shuffled past the wide-eyed guests near them to wrap Harry in a quick hug.

“Hey, Ni,” Harry chuckled, patting his back a few times before Niall shuffled back to stand face to face with him.

“Grimmy’s here, but I think he’s already gone off with some fit bloke. I heard there were private rooms in the back; imagine how many people are gonna shag in there. Disgustin’.”

Harry grimaced at that, thinking just of what Niall said. “All the fluids someone’s gonna have to clean up later…”

Niall threw his head back in laughter, grabbing onto Harry’s forearm gingerly as though he wanted to steady himself just in case the force of his laughter were going to knock him onto his arse. He was definitely drunk already, and hard telling how early he began drinking.

“Let’s get me a pint, then. How’s your mum?” Harry said, holding onto Niall’s arm in return. They went off towards the bar, and honestly, Harry couldn’t remember much else from that point besides dancing to bass that was so strong that it hurt his heart, and stumbling out into the back alley with Niall when the whole crowd started counting down seconds until New Year’s Day began.

“Don’t remember the last time I got a New Year’s kiss,” Niall slurred, zipping his bubble jacket up all the way to his chin.

“I got one every year since One Direction. No one really wanted to kiss me before that,” Harry admitted.

“Fuck ‘em, look at you now. Whole world wants to fuck Harry Styles, don’t they?”

“Whole world wants a piece of One Direction, really,” Harry shrugged, bashfully deflecting Niall’s comment the way he was trained to do in the very first public relation session One Direction had to sit in for.

“How many seconds we got left? Reckon we’ll run into someone before the clock strikes?” Harry’s cheeks were red from the cold even though, based on the sudden cheering from inside, they’d only been outside for less than a minute.

“Unless you’re willing to kiss me, I don’t think there’s anyone else out this late,” Harry chuckled, “And I think we’re already past time.”

“Damn,” Niall hissed, “Maybe next year, eh?”

“Maybe,” Harry agreed. “There’s this bridge nearby, its got this little spot in the middle that’d be nice for a sit. D’ya wanna go check it out?”

“Is this what you do nowadays, Styles? Sit on bridges in the middle of the night?” Niall laughed, nudging his arm against Harry’s as he started off towards the open end of the alley.

Harry laughed too, willing himself to follow Niall without reaching out and wrapping his arm around him in some way-- _ any _ way to regain contact. It was cold, after all, so it would make sense if Harry maybe put his hand in Niall’s pocket to keep warm, or if maybe Niall would drop his hand he could reach out…

“Which way is it?” Niall questioned as they reached the end of the alley.

“Left, just up there.”

Niall hummed and nodded, turning in the direction Harry told him. They walked then, silently as though listening for something to be different about them in the new year, but everything seemed the same, except now instead of being inside a warm club, they were walking into the cold, winter wind.

The pair walked half the length of the bridge before coming upon the area that Harry had mentioned; it was hardly a hangout spot, but the pavement bulged out to serve as a bench and they could view a significant part of downtown London from there.

Harry swatted away a bit of snow before sitting, leaning back against the cold stone as well. Niall dropped down beside him, sitting close enough to press their thighs together. Harry didn’t mind; he never did, but especially not now since their close proximity meant preserving body heat.

“Nice as you thought it’d be?” Niall asked, leaning in like Harry wouldn’t have been able to hear him otherwise.

“Mmm, yeah, I reckon so,” he nodded. “Thanks for comin’ out here with me. I usually wouldn’t have been able to ‘cause my security would just whisk me away soon as I stepped out of the door.”

“Guess no one thought to check the back door.” Niall looked up at Harry with a wide grin, lips parting just slightly to show his teeth. Harry smiled back, nodding.

“Yeah, guess so.”

“Mate, we’ve gotta make our resolutions.”

At that, Harry laughed.

“New Year’s Resolutions? Do people really do that? I don’t think I’ve ever seriously made a resolution and stuck to it, Ni.”

“What?” he gasped, drawing a hand from his pocket to place over his heart. “I’m offended, Styles. Have you seriously never?”

“Well,” Harry started with a chuckle, “when I was in school we were told to in like, home economics so that we would improve our organization or tidying skills or the likes, but I never actually  _ legitimately  _ made resolutions.”

“Well I have made resolutions just about every year I can remember. I made one the year we were on the X Factor to try chasing my dreams. Made one the next year wanting to get a number one, and we did. Next year did it again with something like ‘sell out a whole venue’ and we did. I think they’re worth thinkin’ about at least.”

“Maybe you’re just lucky,” Harry smirked, looking over at Niall who immediately rolled his eyes.

“Don’t give me none of that now, H,” he scolded, shoving him playfully. Harry barked out a laugh then covered his mouth and chuckled quieter so as not to disturb the still night.

“What are your resolutions this year, then?” Harry mumbled through the remnants of his chuckle.

“Well, I think I wanna be a bit more open--honest, yanno? Been trying lately to, like, write these little letters and keep fans in the loop of what I’m doing and stuff, yanno? Wanna keep doing that.”

“Seems like a really good thing,” Harry added, “Wish we would have done something like that with the lads back when.”

Niall nodded, continuing with, “Want to stop hiding this year, yanno what I mean?”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and looked over at Niall to find he was already looking at him.

“I don’t think I know what you mean, no. What are you hiding from?”

“Well, I mean, I’m not genuinely hiding from anything, but I want to put more of myself and my feelings out there. I want… I guess I want people to know how I feel about them.”

Harry nodded, keeping his gaze locked on Niall. “You’re pretty good at that anyway, or maybe you’ve been putting up a front and I don’t know you at all!” Harry joked, throwing his hands up in the air. Niall smiled, but he didn’t laugh. Harry slowly tucked his hands between his thighs and kept watching Niall curiously as his expression softened.

“Should start with you since you’re here. I may be buzzin’ a bit still, but I been thinking about this for years now and know what I want to say finally.”

Harry’s heart jumped in his chest. Hearing someone close to him say they’ve been hiding feelings about him had never turned out well for him in the past. In fact, most similar instances ended with people leaving him alone to cry and think about if he’d actually changed over the years or if he really was turning into a prick.

“And that would be…?” he drawled, chewing on the inside of his lip as soon as they rested together once more.

“I like you, H. I really like you--love you, definitely. We’ve been best mates for ages now, spent the last five years living a dream together and sitting in each other’s pockets all the time, but with the hiatus I hardly got to see you and it  _ sucked _ . I thought maybe I just missed all the stuff with the band--and I do miss the band--but I know I really missed  _ you. _ Reckon I don’t know, like, what my sexuality is and all that, but I know I love you, H.”

_ Oh, _ that wasn’t really what Harry was expecting to come out of Niall’s mouth.

“I, uh,”

“Nah, it’s alright, H, you don’t have to feel the same. Like I said, I just-”

“I do, though,” Harry interrupted.

“You? You do what?” Niall watched Harry with wide eyes. Harry could see his eyes were watering, maybe from a cold breeze, or maybe because he thought he was just about to be rejected. Harry knew how much that hurt, definitely, and knew it took a lot for Niall to put himself out there the way he was, even if he was still a bit drunk.

“I mean, I feel the same. I think I always have.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Niall deadpanned. “You’ve got to be jokin’. All these years and we’re only finding out now that we’re into each other?”

This time it was Harry that laughed so hard that he threw his head back. Niall watched in delight as Harry’s face lit up because of him. He laughed along a while before leaning over and pressing his forehead to Harry’s shoulder.

“Reckon I could get that New Year’s Kiss even though it’s passed midnight?” he asked timidly, rubbing his seemingly frozen nose into Harry’s jacket.

“Well...yeah. ‘Course you can,” Harry said softly, waiting for Niall to start laughing and say this was all some sort of joke. He didn’t though, instead he lifted his head and lined his nose up to Harry’s. He nudged closer slightly, urging Harry to meet him halfway, and he did. Their lips met softly, and though it wasn’t the daintiest kiss Harry had ever gotten what with his  _ and _ Niall’s chapped lips, but it was possibly the easiest. Things with Niall were always easy, no matter the circumstance.

(In the morning when Harry woke up in his flat with Niall tucked into his side, he thought that maybe he and Niall weren’t meant to admit their feelings when they were just starting out; maybe they were meant to grow up together and get a few broken hearts along the way before realizing they’d been the one all along.)


End file.
